correct? >> right. not ready to concede. still pulling numbers, looking at ohio in particular. >> all right. candy crowley, appreciate that. as soon as youconcede. they arie looking at ohio. >> once you hear anything, let us know. >> we're talking about these different demographic groups and one thing about any generational cohert if they vote three times in a row for the same party their partisan identity is solidified for the rest of their lives. they spit their votes al gore and george bush. they voted for barack obama. they have voted for barack obama again. they will not self-identify as republicans for the rest of their lives. this generation is lost to the republican party. >> do you buy that? >> i don't think so. >> they have work to do but i don't think they are lost. >> any demographic study cohert

solidifies over time. >> i just fundamentally disagree with the proposition that people are lost forever. i think there are people hard to get back but politics changes over time. i think it's extremely unhealthy for the country to have a party, a republican party that relies on whites for about 90% of their national vote and the other party becomes much more inclusive. the minorities also collect in that party. it's going to be much healthy for the country and the republicans will become a permanent minority party unless they find ways to appeal to the minority community. they've got to find way to appeal. >> that's always been our message. we're supposed to be the party of opportunity. >> look at the primaries. you sat there during the primary debates with me.

that was not the party you saw during the primaries. let me go to one of van's points, because it's kind of interesting we have a split popular vote and the question mandate has been raised second-degree there a clear mandate, what does the president do? one of the questions i was looking at is the opinion of government. should government do more or does government do too much. 53% of the people believe that government does too much for you. >> if mitt romney does not concede and not willing to make a speech does president obama go ahead and make his speech? >> i think he has to have a rationale very quickly within the next half hour. >> in '04, kerry said testifies going to contest the provisionals in ohio.

he did not concede until the next day. president bush did not go out that night. i made the phone call. my wife took the phone call and i said i just heard the kerry people are going to contest the provisional so you may want to think about to tell the president before he goes out. i did write a book. the science shows voting as a young person does indicate how you vote at 24 indicates how you vote at 54. >> we've all wrote books about this. other issue is we have hispanics. about 25% voted for mitt romney this time. down in 2004 from 40%, maybe 44% for the republican party. clearly the republican party has work to do. president obama won 12 points

women. he increased his margin on women. we've got to start thinking about how to grow the party. >> i want to put up some of those numbers on ballot initiatives on the state. >> i really agree with margaret on this particular point. the tea party is allegedly libertarian and doesn't care about social issues but then you have problems on the social issue side. if you didn't have akin who were saying things about women you would have a different outcome. i think the republican party has two problems. >> it's not just about women. this is a recidivist attitude.

this is part of that 1950s america that we lost. it's not just women. it's the whole way of looking at the world. >> if we're going to be able to govern together we have to have two healthy problems. we have problem with democratic party. my concern is that you had a bill clinton who came with the democratic party and got us ready, i don't see who will get the republican party ready for the new century. until they do, everything that's wrong in washington, d.c. is laid at obama's feet. i think he's tried to find a partner and he's not been able toll in the republican party. i don't think he gets enough credit for trying. >> the democratic party is not seen as economic responsibility. right now it's 50/50 split. the democratic party is back to

being the party that james carville had to save. there are those next republican generation leaders out there. >> it's going to do nothing but get better. >> the country will go bankrupt. >> alex i don't want to get into this because everybody says it's only 15% of obama's policy. it's not the discussion now to have this discussion. we can do that later. the discussion is that and you're right somebody will grab hold. there's going to be a healthy debate in that. tomorrow morning people will say romney lost because he wasn't conservative enough. >> they're already saying that. >> chris christie stabbed us in the back or the storm helped or the media was against us. until somebody says we got to deal with what it is that people

are seeing about us that are turning them away. >> this is the best advice he's ever given the republican party. that i agree. >> if you're playing identity politics, the democrats are going to win. that's the way it is right now. the republicans have to find a different message. the thing about mitt romney was, and i think we all sense this at the republican convention is people saw him as a transitional figure even before this. the fact that he is not going to be the next president of the united states means that they can move on. there were people at the convention auditions for the next spot as they spoke in favor of mitt romney including chris christie and marco rubio and maybe even paul ryan. i think romney was transitional, older and now they have to move onto something else. >> 1968 republicans started winning national elections. they won four out of six.

bill clinton understood if you can take this party back to the center we can start winning. since bill clinton got elected now democrats have won four out of six. the lesson should be clear for republicans that they have to adjust. they are seen as the extremist party by too many americans. people who will self-identified moderates in this election went heavily for obama. >> independents. >> let's check back in. >> it's interesting that we've not heard any indication that mitt romney is ready to concede, not ready to deliver a concession speech. the president not delivering a victorious speech. what's going on behind the scenes? >> this is always a tough moment. al gore was coming to concede and he pulled back. there's always communication. each staff has a designated person talks to the other before

the candidates speaks to each other. why are they waiting? they still want to wait and see what happens here. we're up to 91%. if you're governor romney you're looking at that and saying there must be a way. i'm so close. i've been looking to see if there's way. not to help governor romney just to check on the math and you keep going small amount of democratic votes out there, small amount of democratic votes out there. little more votes out there. dpoef romn governor romney not going to make it up there. are there places are republican votes at. 100% it's in. 100% it's in. there's a possibility some county is in touch with somebody saying we've got some votes somewhere. i can't find them. the other guys have been talking across the room, i'm hunting for votes there. last time you and i spoke this turned red, the state of ohio.

we've already called it for the president. it's back turning blue now. you have to be thinking is there some way. >> we discussed earlier this is about a 20,000 vote advantage that the president had with 81% of the vote in. t >> could be counted in ten days but our decision team has made their own calculations. you look at the demographics of a county. our team is really good team. they are cautious. when they make the call they do it based on things. they base it on the fact that at 81% you have that very narrow lead but where are we missing votes. we're missing in cuhoaga county.

the auto bail out helps the president. you look at the places where the votes are out and they are largely democratic areas. i've talked to some republicans down here in hamilton county they promised me this will be red, not blue. if the president is up 4,000 now, maybe governor romney gets 4,000 votes or so, maybe 10,000 if he makes that up. we can go state by state. painfully close. if you're looking at this map painfully close. you say what's left and the places where you have outstanding ve outstanding votes, prince

william county, this has turned blue for president obama. not a lot of the votes still out but you look at the population there's a lot of votes there. if you're in the romney war room, this has been a hard fought campaign you're calling frantically to a republican governor in this state, to a republican governor in this state. to a republican governor in this state. you're saying what's out. is there any way this could be possible. democrats out there probably frustrated. if it was president obama you'd have many of the same questions. i'm going to switch calls for a quick second. i want to help them with the numbers in this campaign. one of the advantages for the president is he didn't have a primary challenge. he was not pushed as governor romney was. a man that supported the bush-mccain kennedy. 65% of the people think illegal

immigrants should be offered legal status. that's a change from 2010. republicans are winning among 65 and older voters. 17% of the electorate tonight. criminal to him in some states. the president's coalition was intact. the obama campaign told us this number would be stable or go up and it did. the president won hugely among young voters. margaret was talking about this. women were a majority of the electorate for some time to come. among that group, you see 12 point gender gap in favor of the president of the united states. it's simple math. we try to say politics is complicated but as bill clinton said often it's just arithmetic. if you look at the electorate, the romney campaign needed this

to be higher. a 72% white electorate is not enough to win. among those white voters romney got 50%. his staff said if he could get to 40% he could win and wolf, he did. >> he certainly did. we want to take a closer look at one the battleground states in this presidential race. look at this map of ohio. romney is carrying the counties that appear in dark red. the dark blue are going for president obama. now let's highlight the major population centers that are criminal this deciding who wins the state. we'll turn all the counties reporting 99% of the vote gray. you notice most of the state -- most of the counties are blue. take a look at that. most of the counties remaining are blue. that's why we feel confident in our projection now and our

projection that ohio will be won by the president of the united states. john. >> wolf, you look at the map, you go through this, you see all this red if you're republican. you're saying there's no way. there's no way my gay is louy i the state. that's what's happening tonight. you just showed the depth of the population. not to sound like a broken record but you win a state by winning where the people are. major population center you run up a 68 to 31 advantage. drop down here summit county, 60% to 39%. this could be more competitive. you drop it down again to stark county, this is always a swing county. if you go back in history in '08, the president carried 52.

it's always a swing county. the president is holding it, 61% at the moment. where are the swing counties? the 50-50s, the president is holding those. there's one in franklin county, african-american vote. he's doing what he has to do. his base voters live here. they turn them out. that's how you win a close statewide election. when you pull it out same thing at the moment is happening here. got a little math to do in florida. it's been stubborn at 91 for a while. governor romney sprinted out to an early lead here. president obama has caught up and passed him. he's adding to his vote total. pick a red county. 100% of the votes in. back this way, 100% of the votes in. we're not talking about a lot of votes. golf romney could get a few more

there. there's another 100. 92, tiny county. mieg get a couple of votes there. there's richmond. 100% is in there. you come out and come up here there's still votes missing up here which is the most reliable democr democratic part of the state. >> standby. we're waiting for the president of the united states barack obama to speak about his election victory. his supporter waiting at his headquarters in chicago. we also hear from mitt romney soon. an aide says he's not yet willing to concede. a lot more coming up on this big historic night in the united states.

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we have another projection to make. cnn projects colorado will be won by the president of the united states. 73% of the vote in. right now the president has 51% to 47% for mitt romney. he has a 65,000 vote advantage. let's show you where it stands right now with the president needed 270 to be elected. we now have him at 290 electoral voted compared to 201 for mitt romney. two states we've not made projections in florida and virginia. alaska is polls have not yet closed. they'll close at the top of the hour.

colorado was a state the republicans desperately wanted. >> i'm going to call it the exclamation point for president obama. let me give him colorado, that gets him to 290. he's already over the top. 270 get you over the top. the romney campaign has been unwilling to concede. let's say governor romney wins alaska as we expect him to do. let's say we're not wrong but let's say for the sake of argument we're wrong. let's give it to romney. virginia be president leads narr narrowly. the president is ahead in florida. let's say governor romney comes back and wins florida. it's not enough. it's not enough. now that the president has colorado even if governor romney wins florida and wins virginia and somehow we have to take ohio back which i don't think we're going to have to, i'm very confident in our call, if they're looking at the map saying maybe here, maybe there, even if they get there and

there, they can't get there. >> colorado clearly a little exclamation point as you point out. colorado, let's take a look at colorado and see where it stands now in terms of the actual vote for colorado. this is the national vote, the popular vote. 51-47%. >> not to sound like a broken record but to agree with our friends across the room this is a wake up call. this was one of the most reliably red states in presidential politics. bill clinton carried it once but this is a fast changing state. most of the change is here in denver and the denver suburbs. you win by winning where the people are. in denver county 13% of the populati population, not all votes in yet. the president is getting three quarters of the vote. that's a great way to start out the foundation. you thump.

these are more competitive once very reliable areas. let's come over here to arapaho county. most of the population of the state is right here. governor romney is close but close isn't good enough in a county like this. the president is pulling up. i spent some time out here last time i was out in colorado. a latino population is growing. if you go back in time this was once solid territory. we don't have the county data. you see the president pulling up in here and then you come out and you're looking at the map filling in here winning where the people are. republicans are running it up out here but it's not enough. >> colorado for the president. let's go back to virginia now. 89% of the vote is in. the president slightly ahead 50

to 49%. we have not yet gotten an indication that the republican nominee is ready to concede. >> in the ballpark of 57,000 votes. it's very close. it was 234,000 the president's margin in virginia four years ago. governor romney is closer. a close second is still second. the president winning big in the democratic vote here. some of the votes still outstanding. the president will pad his margin there in norfolk. wolf, what you do here is you hunt. you say where are there votes out. places they are shy of a hundred is up here. >> take a look at this. look at this wall you see the popular vote for

president of the united states 73% of the popular vote is in. 49, 49%. you see the mitt romney lead nationally by 335 votes. 49%. 49%. 49 million for each of those candidates. mitt romney right now with 73% of the vote in has 335 more votes than barack obama has. that's an amazing statistic anderson. we watched the popular vote. i don't know what will happen in the end. it shows how divided this country is. >> does that matter for president obama moving forward if he does not win the popular vote? >> oh, yes. the first debate still mattered in this whole election.

had he won that first debate he would have won by a much more convincing national margin. that would have given him the authority he needed to go to the congress and say look the country spoke in a clear decisive voice. i think now it's a much more complicated things. the republicans can say the house of representatives, we won the house. that's the people's voice in washington. >> we already hear a lot of republicans blaming mitt romney being a northeast liberal an not conservative enough. >> you can't do that. >> they can do go that way. they can double down in arizona and be a minority party for a long time to come. >> the big story is the demographic story. john king just put up the number before which is that whites are now 72% of the electorate and

it's going down and republican pollster, predicted rightly so that if whites drop to 72% of the electorate the president would win. this is a party that has not done any reaching out. >> let's also remember to be a successful president which is what barack obama wants and now he's won a second term with a remarkable ending but to be a successful president his biggest challenge, there's a challenge before he deals with the economy and that's bringing the country together because right now it is split into pieces. >> how does he do that? >> he knows how to do that. he got it before. he got elected president by

saying there's no red and blue. >> is he the won, he can't do that alone. doesn't that require republic s republicans? >> he's the president. he has the flexibility to do that. he'll put an incredible mount on republicans to step forward and meet him if not halfway, if not 80% but he'll put an incredible amount of pressure on the republicans to come to the table. he's done this before. >> it's going to be on the republicans because in 2016 they'll be faced with a 70-69% white electorate. they're not going to be able to deal with things the way they have before. the democrats have our problem but the trend that's going on in

this country will continue. we need to realize that. >> i think james is right. i think they've got to do that. there is a practical problem for republicans in the senate which i've always thought they would go along after this was over. the senator will up. they could get knocked off. that's a serious problem within the dynamics of the republican party. i think this goes back to your point this will be hard. >> if they keep throwing todd akins and richard mourdocks, they've got to wean from that. they could beat lamar alexander who was popular with a challenge

from the right but that's going to hurt them more. >> they're vanishing. >> just because they're not doing so hot does not mean the democrats are founder of the holy grail of politics. this is a party that's gone backwards. they're not trusted with money. they're trusted more than us but that doesn't mean a lot. >> we're trusted with lesbians and gays, we're trusted with latinos. we're trusted with what america is coming. >> the backdrop of a $16 trillion deficit that mitt romney pulled ahead of barack obama in every single swing

state. every single time you asked them debt and deficit. >> not tonight. tonight it was one or two points. >> they didn't vote on debt an deficits. they voted on -- it was mandate on the president. >> on the exit poll question which was asked specifically whwho is better able to handle the debt, it was a one or two difference. the president managed to close that gap and i think it was because the president was seen as best able to deal with my problems an understand the middle class. >> that's going produce entirely different behavior. >> exactly. >> if you're from tennessee, you're more afraid of getting beat in a primary or kentucky.

when you go in to see a senator or a congressman that's the first question you have to ask. >> both parties are concerned about debt and deficit. that's common ground. you have a more balanced approach which is what the president was talking about. you both have increase in revenue or do you do all cuts. there is common ground. >> if the republicans are going to give on taxes, the democrats have to cut spending. that's going to be a big problem with the democratic base. >> i want to go to wolf who will look at the popular vote. >> as more votes come in from california, the president is now

ahead in the popular vote with 75% of the vote in. both of these men have 49% of the vote but the president has 40,699 more votes in. the number will probably go up because a lot of the votes are still being counted on the west coast. california the largest state in the united states. you see they both have 49 million votes. the president has nearly 40,000 advantage in the popular vote. this will be very point psychologically politically. if the president does win and he will have more than 270 electoral votes but it's psychologically important for the president to say he won more votes nationally than the republican presidential nominee. we'll see where that number goes. i suspect it will continue to increase as we get more votes coming in for the west coast especially from california.

right now as our last count the president has an advantage of 38,711 votes. it does underscore how divided this country is. this is something we're watching closely and we will continue to watch it. the president has not yet spoken because as of right now mitt romney has not yet conceded. we don't know if there's been any phone calls between the two. so far there's no concession coming from the republican campaign. no concession coming from mitt romney. we're watching this very closely. >> we're watching the ballot initiatives. major one in maine on marriage equality. i want to go to jim acosta who is standing by with the romney

campaign. what are you hearing behind the scenes when or if governor romney may concede? >> it's been radio silence now for the good portion of half an hour to an hour from the romney campaign after we spoke to the communications director. around 11:30 when he said governor romney was not ready to concede. within the last half hour i did talk to mike levitt. he was going to be the transition head for romney, transitioning from candidate to head. he's seated among some of these other dignitaries. we can perhaps pan over to this area or show you this area. i can tell you that scott romney, the brother of mitt romney is also in the room right now. i saw a brother of paul ryan make his way into the room. family members of the candidates are starting to make their way into the room. that's a sign of what's to come, the next stage of this night.

as of right now, i keep checking and looking down at my iphone to make sure, nothing official yet from the romney campaign. we'll keep checking. >> how does this work? >> these guys are dying. they have wanted this in '08. they wanted it in 2012. inside the romney family, governor romney all the people that worked on it, they bleed and they really bleed. it's sad thing. i might have voted for them but when campaign loses, you're dying on the inside. it hurts like you can't even imagine how much it hurts. >> which i'm sure barack obama will do is you give him time to get that together. it probably won't be long. >> you know mitt romney better than i do. his wife talked him into

running. i don't think he was like some of these candidates that have been obsessed with becoming president. >> he's been running quite a while. >> i think he's a pretty resilient guy. >> he asked a lot of people to believe and invest in him. when a candidate disappoints those people it leaves a pool of tears in the bottom of your heart. it's a brutal thing. >> he's been running. he's been running a long time. >> internally, it's hard. somebody's got to lose in every race. i can understand why they taking a long time. he wants to play out every possible option.

i think that president obama understands that too. some level you've been there and you know what it's like. >> in spending some time with the romney's and the family, i'll tell you one thing, his wife made a video for him after the 2008 campaign and said to him, never again. ann, she and tagg came to him and said we want you to do this. it's a staff that's been with him just like the clinton staff. it's a staff that's been with him since, some of them since he ran for the senate seat in 1994. it takes a lot of time. his wife has been out there on the campaign trial this fall.

i think it's a very tough thing. >> you missed the last shot in the tournament and let the team down. on top of that you actually believed that you were doing something important for the country and if you didn't succeed you've left the country not as good a place. it's a tough thing. >> don't you think he actually ran a good campaign given who he was. he redeemed himself. he was so far over to the right. >> this is a really interesting question whether the republican primaries and having 20 debates were actually good for the republicans in the general election. i think there are a lot of republicans who will scratch their heads and defend it but there's a lot of folk who is will shis was not a good thing because he could not reconcile saying self-deporting. >> we got a major projection t make right now in ce for

the white house. cnn projects the commonwealth of virginia will be won by the president of the united states. the president will win all 13 of virginia's electoral votes. more than three million votes counted. we have projected that 13 electoral votes will go for the president of the united states. that adds his total. let's update you what's going on at 303 electoral votes for the president. 203 for the romney. 270 needed to win. let's go over to candy crowley. >> still very quiet here waiting for mitt romney to come over here. the last we heard jim acosta hasn't heard from anybody. it takes a little white to

adjust to this if they believe the things were saying as they moved into election day, they felt they were going to win. that's a hard thing to adjust to. we know that mitt romney said he only written one speech, his victory speech so that takes a little time. they wanted to follow ohio. we know that paul ryan is in the general area in the adjoining hotel. we expect him to come first and we expect mitt romney to come. so far we have not gotten any definitive word as to when they might be here. the last we heard they were still looking at ohio, still thinking those numbers might be other than what the projections have said. we've seen people in here relatives, brothers, kids of the candidates and it leads us to

believe he will be here at some point. you got to write that speech. you got to get everybody together and come out and put on a good face and give a speech. >> we're just waiting, candy. we're waiting for mitt romney to go ahead and concede assuming if he will do that at some point. we want to update you on some major initiatives that were on the ballot in several states. we've got some results beginning with the issue of marijuana. in arkansas allow medical marijuana, we project the final vote in arkansas will be no. they reject allowing medical marijuana. let's go to massachusetts. they say yes. they do allow medical marijuana. question three in massachusetts, we project that will pass in massachusetts. in colorado, this would legalize marijuana, not just medical marijuana, it legalizes marijuana in colorado. that goes forward in colorado.

that's amendment 64. in oregon legalizing marijuana, that's measure 80 in oregon. that is a no. we projected that will be a no. they do not go ahead and legalize marijuana in oregon right now. let's continue. we've got some more ballot initiatives. here in maryland take a look at this. allowing same-sex marriage in maryland, that's a yes. yes number six we project will be approved. maryland will go forward and permit same-sex marriage in the state of maryland. there's three other states that had that on the initiative. maine had that and minnesota. let's get some more information on those three states. right now maryland historic moment has approved same-sex marriage. >> also pointed maine passed it.

>> i cannot emphasize what a historic night this is. >> it's the first time it's been put up and passed. >> it's gone to ballot 33 times. it's likely four of four have won. we won't know washington for a few days but this is water shed moment for the gay rights movement. >> it looks like it is. we haven't called it. others have. >> first this passed in the courts and the opponents said this is judicial activism. then it passed in the legislatures and they said it will never pass at the ballot box. >> the issue did not come up in any of the debates and there's some who criticize that for not being brought up by the moderators but the flip side it was not being used as a wedge issue in this election. >> republicans have a problem here. this is an area where there's

party with it. is big government a good idea when it agrees with them. the next republican leader you'll see freedom values, local nationally. the republican party can't be the party that thinks there's too much love in the world. >> i agree with that. this is a huge civil rights issue. i want to say that as an african-americ african-american. this is about liberty and justice for all. there was an intent to turn african-americans against the president the wrong way on this issue. it's not that we have too many people who want to have lifelong loving commitments. if people want to be able to stand together and not be judged by race or sexuality, the african-american community needs to follow and lead.

>> question got to take a short break. we are anticipating hearing from governor romney shortly. we'll be right back. [ man ] hello!!!! hello!!!! [ all ] ohh! that is crazy! are you kidding me? let me see! oh! what! that's insane! noooo! mr. woodson? oh hello! hello! [ whistles ] hello! [ all ] hello! [ coach ] caleb, i've got someone i want you to meet. hello. [ male announcer ] at&t. the nation's largest 4g network. covering 3,000 more 4g cities and towns than verizon.

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i'll worry about the economy more than a few times before they're grown. but it's for them, so i've found a way. who matters most to you says the most about you. massmutual is owned by our policyholders so they matter most to us. massmutual. we'll help you get there. let's go to candy crowley. she's at romney headquarters in boston. what can you tell us? >> reporter: the phone call has been made between governor romney and president obama. we know this. jessica yellen has sources on

her side. we know the motorcade that you can walk from where he is but the motorcade has taken off. we are expecting to hear from the governor. >> somebody put paper on the podium. i assume we'll hear from the governor first. the governor will concede and then the president of the united states will speak after that. normally that's the way it goes. he'll be speaking right behind you. you're saying he's not very far away from that location in boston? >> reporter: right. we think he will speak in the next five minutes or so. he's not far away at all. he's in an attached hotel. >> thanks very much. we'll get back to you. let's go to john over here. you're getting some more information as well. what are you learning? >> e-mailing some sources. i'm told it was a short conversation and polite conversation and governor romney

conceded and said he will speak shortly to his supporters. >> that will be a sad moment for him. he'll speak to his supporters out there. that's the way it goes. the losing candidate calls the winning candidate, concedes and we hear the concession speech first and the victory speech second. >> it's one of the rituals of american politics. it's an especially important ritual when you have a country that is so evenly divided. this is the national vote total. the president's lead is ahead 100,000 votes thanks to california. we're watching the rest of the votes come in. we just reset the wall so we don't have the up to date totals. you see a state like florida where the president won four years ago with a bigger margin this is is why it took so long. the president won the state by 240,000 votes last time. you see again 50,000 votes this

time. you go through state by state takes a little longer. feelings are harder. james has been through this. you see a state like ohio 50 to 48. you're looking at a nar owe vote marv narrow vote margin. the conversation was short, polite and governor romney is ready to step forward and concede the election. >> a very difficult, painful moment for him, for his wife and five sons, 18 grand children. a very close knit family. they worked really hard for this and they came up short. it's easy to forget. they seem so long ago. here you have mitt romney, his opponents called him moderate mitt. he once favored abortion rights.

yet in the first election after the rise of the tea party he won the republican nomination. people will say he's a weak republican field. he had a better fund raising operation but he proved his tenacity time and time again in the republican primaries. he's strong but not strong enough performance on the ground. >> we're told maybe a minute or so from mitt romney walking to the microphone there in boston. his supporters are pretty quiet now. they're waiting for mitt romney to come over. candy crowley is on the scene. it looks like it's going to be very, very soon we'll hear from the republican presidential nominee. >> reporter: indeed. wolf i'm not sure on any of the elections i've covered have i heard a crowd as quiet as this crowd has been.

they started a couple of cheers. you can hear them starting to sing god bless america but it's been incredibly subdued. i think we're about to hear the announcement. here he comes. >> he's walking out now and he's getting applause from his supporter supporte supporters. mitt romney getting ready to concede. let's go to boston. >> thank you. thank you. thank you my friends. thank you so very much. thank you. [ cheers and applause ] thank you. i have just called president obama to congratulate him on his victory. his supporters and his campaign also deserve congratulations. i wish all of them well but

particularly the president, the first lady and their daughters. this is a time of great challenges for america and i pray that the president will be successful in guiding our nation. [ cheers and applause ] i want to thank paul ryan for all he's done for our campaign and for our country. besides my wife ann, paul is the best choice i've ever made, and i trust that his hard work and commitment to principle will continue to contribute to the good of our nation. also want to thank ann, the love of my life.

she would have been a wonderful first lady. she has been that and more to me and to our family and to the many people that she's touched with her compassion and her care. i thank my sons for their tireless work on behalf of the campaign and thank their wives and children for taking up the slacks as their husband and dads have spent so many weeks away from home. i want to thank matt roads and the dedicated campaign team he led. they have made an extraordinary effort, not just for me, but also for the country that we love and to you here tonight, i don't believe there's been an effort in our party that can

compare to what you have done over that's past years. thank you so very much. thanks the for the call ks, speeches and appearances, for the resources and prayers you gave deeply from yourselves and performed magnificently and you inspired us and humbled us. you've been the very best we can imagine. the nation is at a critical point. at a time like this we can't risk partisan bickering and posturing. our leaders have to reach across the aisle to do the people's work and we citizens have to rise to the occasion. we look to our teachers and professor. we continue on you to inspire our children for passion and discovery. we look to our pastors and rabbis to testify of the enduring principles upon which our society is built, honesty, charity, integrity and family.

we look to our parents from the final analysis everything depends on the success of our homes. we look to job creators of all kinds. we're counting on you to invest, to hire, to step forward. we look to democrats and republicans at all levels to put the people before the politics. i believe in america. i believe in the people of america. [ cheers and applause ] i ran for office because i'm concerned about america. this election is over, but our principles endure. i believe that the principles upon which the nation was